AMMAN, July 26 (Petra) -- The Innovative Startups and SMEs Fund (ISSF) has announced a strategic investment partnership with Saudi Technology Ventures (STV), one of the Middle East’s largest venture capital funds specializing in technology and artificial intelligence.

The landmark deal is set to serve as a pivotal milestone for Jordan’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, enabling high-potential startups to bridge early and growth-stage funding gaps, access larger investment rounds, and expand across regional markets--most notably Saudi Arabia. Since its inception, the ISSF has served as one of the Kingdom's primary vehicles for building an investment-ready ecosystem, leveraging Jordan’s highly skilled ICT workforce to position the nation as a regional innovation hub.

Chief Executive Officer of the Information and Communications Technology Association of Jordan (Intaj), Nidal Bitar, told the Jordan News Agency (Petra) that the partnership exemplifies a promising model for Arab investment integration and reflects strong regional capital confidence in Jordanian tech talent.

Bitar noted that the ISSF is an anchor partner in Intaj’s ecosystem, co-managing the national StartupsJo platform alongside the ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship. He emphasized that the agreement aligns directly with Intaj’s strategic pillar dedicated to entrepreneurship, adding that regional challenges in AI investment should be viewed as collaborative opportunities rather than obstacles.

Addressing sector hurdles, Bitar identified three key focus areas: expanding the pool of investment-ready AI startups through regional market coordination, converting funding into cross-border growth by pairing local talent with STV's expertise, and establishing sustainable knowledge-economy capabilities rather than relying on isolated deals.

ICT expert Wasfi Al-Safadi highlighted that the agreement coincides with a strategic shift among Gulf sovereign wealth funds toward economic diversification sectors, particularly AI, semiconductors, and data centers. He underscored the urgency of the partnership, noting that AI startups in the region currently absorb just 1.5 percent of regional venture capital funding, compared to 38 percent in the United States and 13 percent in India.

Al-Safadi explained that the partnership provides Jordanian firms two vital avenues for growth: leveraging STV’s corporate client network in Saudi Arabia and using the Saudi market as a primary launching pad for testing and scaling tech solutions. This momentum is further backed by expanding Jordan-Saudi economic ties, with Saudi Arabia standing as the largest foreign investor in Jordan alongside growing bilateral trade and cross-border investment agreements in advanced technologies.

Regarding broader market impacts, Al-Safadi noted that the entry of the region’s largest independent VC fund lends enhanced credibility to the Jordanian market, acting as a catalyst to attract further international investment funds as measurable success stories emerge.

Tech and data governance expert Dr. Hamza Al-Akalik framed the partnership as a structural shift for Jordanian entrepreneurship. He pointed out that the agreement addresses a historical bottleneck--growth-stage funding gaps--which previously forced promising startups to delay expansion or relocate operations abroad to secure late-stage investors.

Al-Akalik added that STV’s deep capital reserves and network transform funding from a survival mechanism into a regional scaling platform. Beyond capital injection, the collaboration is expected to import global best practices in corporate governance, accelerate growth in sectors like fintech, enterprise software, and e-commerce, and drive qualitative job creation while boosting the digital economy’s contribution to Jordan's GDP.

//Petra// AA